Thanks to the efforts of Brittney Zec ’16, it soon won’t matter where you are in the world—you’ll still be able to follow every play by your favorite Bulldog athletic team by tuning into KDAWG.
Zec came to the University of Redlands from Colorado to play basketball and has always aspired to become a sports journalist. She wanted to create a “mini-ESPN” on campus and is making her dream a reality now that she is the sports director of KDAWG, the University of Redlands student radio station. After two years on the team, she is now in a different role, covering men’s and women’s basketball games on the air, and she hopes to soon expand to all sports.
“As an out-of-state student, I knew there was a demand for parents to watch games,” she said. “Since so much media now is digital, bringing that to our school was bringing us into the next generation.”
While Zec streams live on KDAWG, a feed simultaneously airs on GoRedlands.com. Zec’s first broadcast was during a men’s basketball game, and she said it felt “very empowering” as a woman to provide play-by-play and analysis. “I love stepping up to the plate and showing that women are more than capable of doing this, and it’s not just a man’s industry.”
As a female sports journalist, Zec said she “loves to earn the respect of my male competitors” and appreciates the support she is getting. “I’ve received positive feedback from parents of the men’s teams, who really enjoy my broadcast,” she said.
Zec is broadcasting each game on her own and hopes to start recruiting students to cover more games, but as a lifelong sports fan, she is very confident in her ability to announce every type of game.
“As a foundation, I grew up in Chicago, and sports are everything,” she said. “I went to Bulls games with my dad, and my mom was a diehard Cubs fan. I was always around it and naturally was excited about the spectacle of sport.”
Before KDAWG, the University was home to KUOR, and there’s still a link between the station and Bulldog Athletics. Mitch McClellan and Brett Malak both worked at KUOR for several years before it closed down and now broadcast football games every fall on KMET 1490 AM.
“We’re proud of it,” McClellan said. “We’re the only school in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) that does commercial radio. I’ve done Redlands football for 27 years and haven’t missed a game. I got here the same year as Coach Mike Maynard.”
McClellan hears from University of Redlands alumni around the world, who say they tune in at all hours of the day. “We get messages from Australia saying they stay up in the middle of the night to listen to games,” he said. “We have regular listeners in Florida and New York, and since we kick off at 7 p.m., the second half starts after midnight on the east coast. That’s pretty cool.”
Several students on the KDAWG staff have joined McClellan in the booth during broadcasts, taking notes and asking questions during breaks. The veteran announcer is happy to help the next generation of radio in any way he can and is reminded of his own experiences early in his career. “It’s always great to see other people interested in it,” McClellan said. “The beauty of KUOR, and hopefully KDAWG, is it is what they make of it.”
